Oldham joiner's homemade bird houses are a flying success

Bryan Yates, 56, began making the creative bird houses during the first lockdown and has since made around 70 that range from small nesting boxes to large replicas of buildings.

As well as making bird houses for people's personal use, he has donated over a dozen to worthwhile causes around Manchester.

Mr Yates said: "As a child at school, I was always making replica things out of wood from my dad's work van to our local church.

His creations take all shapes and sizes, with the smaller bird houses taking him about 10 hours to build, while some of the larger ones, such as replicas of houses, can take him several days.

One of the stand out designs.

Another impressive aspect to these stunning creations is the fact that Mr Yates only uses recycled materials when building them. He explained that he uses resources such as old pine furniture and wardrobes when putting together the bird houses.

Mr Yates has been a joiner for around four decades, but says it gives him great "pleasure seeing people's faces" when he delivers a replica bird house of their home.

His bird houses have replicated vehicles including the van from Only Fools and Horses, real-life houses and even fictional characters such as Dennis the Menace and Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast.

Mr Yates said the Cogsworth bird house was his favourite to build.

Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, Mr Yates' favourite bird house to build.

He said: "I don't think I have ever made a normal bird house."

Mr Yates isn't planning on slowing down in the near future. He explained that December will see him build replicas for a pub and a manor house both in Cheshire, which cannot be named right now. Replicas of houses and buildings currently make up most of the requests he receives.

To see more of Mr Yates' work, visit the Birdhouse Replication and Manufacturer Facebook group.